The purpose of this agenda item is to conduct a workshop and discussion on the draft update to the City’s Land Use Plan. The Land Use Plan is the single most important document that will guide how the City positively and proactively responds to long-term market shifts and demographic trends – all with the goal of protecting our single family residential neighborhoods and ensuring Sugar Land continues to be a premier place to live, work, shop and play in the region. This Plan is based on listening to community input over the last four years, including a Council appointed citizen Land Use Advisory Committee, stakeholder interviews, public meetings, and online town halls.

Update Overview

The Land Use Plan is one of the City’s eight (8) master plans and was last fully updated in 2004 (the Future Land Use Map alone was updated in 2012).  The Land Use Plan documents the land use policies that guide development within the City.  The Land Use Plan is published as Chapter 6 of the City’s Comprehensive Plan, of which Chapters 1 through 5 were updated and adopted by City Council in July 2012.  The project to update the Land Use Plan, which began in 2013, will complete the Comprehensive Plan update and incorporate the City’s new vision, goals, and other policy guidance into the Land Use Plan. 

A primary focus of the Land Use Plan update is developing a vision, a set of goals and policies for land use and development based on the broader vision and goals established in the Comprehensive Plan.  Establishing and documenting vision, goals, and policies will guide future City efforts and help the City respond to development proposals. Another focus of the update was to identify and prioritize recommended actions the City can undertake to accomplish the land use vision and goals.

Public Engagement

Community engagement has been a major component of the Land Use Plan update to ensure policy guidance is consistent with community preferences.  Over the last four years of the update process, there have been many different opportunities for public input including gathering initial community input via the City’s Online Town Hall tool and stakeholder interviews with a variety of community members; the Land Use Forum, which was a six-part speaker and community roundtable series highlighting a variety of land-use related topics in which nearly 200 people attended and participated; and two public meetings and subsequent Online Town Halls in December 2014 and September 2015 to collect feedback on the draft land use vision and goal and on the draft policies and actions.

One of the most significant means of gathering community input was through the citizen advisory committee for the update. At the beginning of the process City Council appointed residents from the city and ETJ to form the Land Use Advisory Committee (LUAC). The committee held almost forty working meetings throughout the last four years to draft the Land Use Plan update. LUAC unanimously endorsed the draft Land Use Plan prior to sharing it with the public online on September 29 and at an open house on October 11, 2017. Approximately forty Sugar Land and ETJ residents attended the open house and had the opportunity to learn about the Plan’s recommendations and ask questions of LUAC and staff.

Key Highlights of the Plan Update

The update to the Land Use Plan provides in-depth recommendations that will guide land use decisions to achieve the Plan’s 20 to 25-year vision. The Plan covers a broad range of land-use related topics over 135 pages and is divided into five sections:

Section 1: Executive Summary

Section 2: What is the Land Use Plan?

Section 3: Setting the Stage for the Land Use Plan Update

Section 4: Process for the Plan Update

Section 5: The 20 to 25 Year Land Use Vision for Sugar Land

•  Land Use Vision, Goals, and Policies
•  Areas of Change
•  Future Land Use Map
•  Land Use Categories
•  Community Character & Standards (CUP Guidance)

Section 6: Roadmap to Get There [Action items]

Appendix

The following are some key highlights of the Plan:

• The updated Land Use Plan establishes a vision for land use and development, 10 goals, 36 policies and 50 recommended action items.
• This Plan prioritizes the preservation and protection of single-family neighborhoods in Sugar Land and encourages increased coordination with the school districts.
• The Land Use Plan provides guidance for stronger restrictions on multi-family development, including a definitive statement that no new stand-alone, single-use, multi-family residential development within the City should be approved.
• The success of Sugar Land Town Square is a model for future new walkable mixed use Regional and Neighborhood Activity Centers.
• Redevelopment is critical to maintaining the long-term fiscal health of the City but must always be balanced and considerate of the impact on any adjacent single-family neighborhoods.
• Maintaining amenities such as retail, restaurants, hotels, cultural institutions, parks, entertainment and recreational destinations are important in attracting residents, tourists and visitors. The Plan encourages these amenities to be located in appropriate locations respectful of adjacent single-family neighborhoods.
• Continued commercial development is vitally important to the City from both an economic perspective as well as the civic services and amenities it provides to residents and visitors.
• The Plan recognizes the benefit of utilizing Land Use strategies to increase overall mobility and reduce traffic congestion.

Planning and Zoning Commission Review

The Planning and Zoning Commission held a public hearing and discussion on October 26, 2017. Prior to the meeting, the draft Land Use Plan update was placed on the City’s website on September 29 and an Online Town Hall opened on October 2, where residents were able to read the Plan and provide feedback. The Online Town Hall closed on October 23, and the comments from nine City and ETJ residents were provided to the Commission on the evening of the public hearing on October 26. The comments were both in support of the Plan’s policies and comments expressing concern about the draft Plan.  One resident spoke during the public hearing and shared concerns with the recommended limitations on multi-family residential development. Following the public hearing, the Commission discussed the draft Plan update and provided feedback to staff. The Commission supported the majority of the recommendations in the Plan. However, through discussion there was an emerging consensus that the majority of the Commission did not support the draft Plan’s guidelines for multi-family caps.  Specifically, several Commissioners expressed the desire to either eliminate the recommended 12% citywide cap, or to increase it to 20%. Commissioners also indicated a preference to remove the formula for the site-specific caps identified for Regional and Neighborhood Activity Centers and Medium Density Mixed Use areas.

The Planning and Zoning Commission held their consideration and action on the Land Use Plan update on November 14.  The Commission voted 6-3 on a recommendation of approval of the Land Use Plan update to the Mayor and City Council with the following recommendation for changes to the Plan:

• Remove the citywide cap on multi-family;
• Remove the formula to determine site specific caps on multi-family;
• Remove language that multi-family should only be in vertically mixed-use buildings; and
• Remove language indicating a preference for condo ownership in multi-family. 

As part of this workshop, staff will be presenting the draft Plan as unanimously endorsed by the LUAC in August and reviewing the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommended modifications.  Ultimately, the City Council may direct to move forward with the plan as prepared by the LUAC or choose to make any of the above changes to the draft Land Use Plan – as well as make any other modifications as identified by the City Council. A public hearing is scheduled for December 5, 2017 prior to consideration and action on the final plan.